Metallica’s James Hetfield to Play the Cop Who Arrested Ted Bundy in New Movie Opposite Zac Efron

This might sound like it’s a troll, but I swear on Cliff Burton’s grave that it isn’t: James Hetfield has accepted his first acting role in a major motion picture (no, Through the Never doesn’t count). Hetfield will play Officer Bob Hayward, the Utah highway patrolman who first arrested Ted Bundy in 1975, in the upcoming movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile. Bundy will be played by Zac Efron. Yes, that Zac Efron.

How did the Metallica frontman come the gig, you ask? Well, the movie is being directed by Joe Berlinger, who co-directed 2004’s Some Kind of Monster, as well as the Paradise Lost documentaries about the West Memphis Three (which featured Metallica music, which the band allowed the filmmakers to use for free). So he and Papa Het obviously go way back.

Says Berlinger of the casting:

“Having spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes with James and the rest of Metallica, I have experienced his charisma and powerful presence close up. It seemed only natural that he would bring that same power and magnetism to a dramatic role, so when he agreed to my pitch that he be in the movie, I was thrilled.”

As to whether or not Hetfield — or the movie itself, for that matter — will be any good… who the heck knows. Berlinger is a great documentary filmmaker, but this is only his second-ever fiction film. The first was Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. No further comment.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile is filming now, so expect it to be out sometime in 2019.

[via Deadline]